Current systems for home automation are often based on the concept of the “home-control gateway”, in which applications for home automation are operated by a customer at home, for example on a home-control gateway. In said systems, the applications communicate locally with the actuators and sensors. Control units such as tablet PCs or smartphones control applications of the home automation technology.
Control units control the applications in a geographically local manner, that is to say at the time of the control, they are located together with the home-control gateway at the same location, i.e. effectively “at home”. However, the control units can also control applications remotely from any desired other locations via the internet. That is to say, at the time of the control, they are located outside the “home”.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the topology 100 of a home automation network with communication between the home-control gateway 112 and the control unit 118 via a central service 114. In this drawing, two control units 118a, 118b are shown, wherein the one 118a is located inside the “home” 110, and the second 118b is located outside the “home”, that is to say in the “not home” 120. The drawing could also show a single control unit 118a, 118b which migrates between “home” 110 and “not home” 120.
The communication of the control unit 118a “home” is conducted via the central service 114. FIG. 1 shows the communication connection with the communication connections “1”, that is to say the first communication connection 101, which runs from the control unit 118a via the home network 111 to the internet access device 116, and “4”, that is to say the fourth communication connection 104, which runs from the IAD 116 via the internet 113 to the central service 114. The combination of two sub-connections 101, 104 results in a relatively long latency. The authenticity of the access is ascertained by the central service 114.
In the case of an interruption of the connection between the home network 111 and the central service 114, the authentication by the central service 114 results in an unsatisfactory user experience. The user then cannot access the home-control gateway 112 either locally or via the central service 114, i.e. either via the first communication connection “1” 101 or via the fourth communication connection “4”.